journal of technology and science education · carrera) coexisted with the bachelor’s degree...

Journal of Technology and Science EducationJOTSE, 2017 – 7(2): 241-253 – Online ISSN: 2013-6374 – Print ISSN: 2014-5349

https://doi.org/10.3926/jotse.256

HOW THE CONTENTS OF A BACHELOR’S DEGREE FINAL PROJECT

OF ENGINEERING EVOLVE TOWARDS INNOVATIVE SCIENTIFIC

KNOWLEDGE: KEYS TO SUCCESS

Cristina Núñez , Ana Guinea , Sara Callau , Christophe Bengoa ,

Josep Basco , Jordi Gavaldà

Chemical Engineering Department, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Received November 2016

Accepted January 2017

Abstract

The Bachelor’s Degree Final Project (BDFP) of our school aims to develop a real constructive project,enhance cooperative teamwork and increase productivity of students.We present a real case study, related with engineering and scientific innovation results obtained byBDFP, which has led to an innovative scientific study presented at the 7th European Meeting onChemical Industry and Environment and published in EMChIE 2015 Conference Proceedings.The objectives of this paper are:

• Describing the design and implementation of a BDFP of engineering that encompasses thedevelopment of the characteristic elements of engineering and constructive work and, at thesame time, it is scientifically innovative.

• Showing the methodology used for its development.• Presenting the results obtained.• Emphasizing the importance of teachers, teamwork of students and the use of real case studies

in the conceptual development of a BDFP.• Enhancing the possibility that the BDFP of Engineering can solve real engineering problems

and to be precursors of Innovation and Scientific Knowledge developers.• Learning engineering and, at the same time, providing Science new knowledge and applications.

Keywords – Bachelor’s Degree Final Project (BDFP) or Treball Fi de Grau (TFG), Case study,Methodology, Innovative scientific study.

----------

-241-

mailto:[email protected]






http://www.omniascience.com/

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-5252

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5391-6467

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2123-176X

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9160-5010

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6330-208X

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3702-0422

Journal of Technology and Science Education – https://doi.org/10.3926/jotse.256

1. Introduction

The academic year 2012-2013 was the last in which in our School, Escola Tècnica Superior

d’Enginyeria Química of Rovira i Virgili University (hereinafter referred to ETSEQ by the Catalan

acronym), as in many other schools of engineering of the Spanish State, the Final Project Degree

of the old Chemical Engineering degree (called PFC by the Catalan acronym; Projecte Fi de

Carrera) coexisted with the Bachelor’s Degree Final Project Degree of the new Chemical

Engineering bachelor degree (called TFG by the Catalan acronym; Treball Fi de Grau). Afterward,

the TFG consolidated as the official Final Project and, in our case, with fewer academic courses

and credits since we change, respectively, 5 to 4 years and 33 to 12 credits.

Although the objectives of the TFG are the same as the ones of its predecessor, the PFC, it

consists of real work; to enhance cooperative teamwork supervised by professionals of the

engineering and higher education; to increase the productivity of students, and to experiment

with the students the dynamics of a real work (Cabello, Montané, Castells & Gavaldà, 2014).

In many cases, the real work takes place in collaboration with companies and industries in the

area (García, Font & Gavaldà, 2009), which offer external tutors to monitor the development of

the TFG’s together with the professor of the School.

In this case study, the External Tutor was the director of an assessment entity of chemical and

technological risks. He and the Associate Professor of the School (at the same time "senior"

engineer in exercise in a multinational company) commissioned the team to design a chlorine

storage unit and the implementation of measures to mitigate the risk to this unit.

The result of the project, after more than 750 hours of working by the three students that

formed the team, was the TFG named “Chlorine storage unit design and application of risk

mitigation measures” (Guinea, Nuñez & Callau, 2014) in which the students act as a “pseudo-

professional” engineers, achieving the requirements of the “Property” (represented by the

Associate Professor and the External Tutor) and the regulations of the School (ETSEQ, 2014 –

2016).

The results presented in the TFG were related to engineering and were constructive as they

corresponded to the design. Besides, it also included another part related to scientific innovation

(proposal and application of high-risk mitigation measures in order to minimise the risk

associated with plant premises and surrounding population). Both parts of the project were

separated and, at the end, it resulted in an innovative scientific study (Guinea et al., 2015a) which

-242-


was presented by the TFG students in an oral session in the International Conference “7th

European Meeting on Chemical Industry and Environment”. Finally, the study was published in

“EMChIE 2015 Conference Proceedings” study (Guinea et al., 2015b).

2. Approach, methodology and results

The professor team designed a TFG based on the knowledge and the real experience of the

Associate Professor; the applied and specific knowledge of the External Tutor, and the

knowledge and teaching methodology of the Professor of the subject. In the initial proposal of

the project, it was already included the idea of developing a TFG that was more complex than

the habitual.

This TFG was offered to a team of three students, one of them with little experience in the

assessment of industrial risks. The team assumed the project as a professional work, taking the

initial decision of doing it in English, despite the fact that the native language of the three team

members was Catalan or Spanish. They also planned the project in a careful and meticulous way

in respect of the activities, timing and individual responsibilities of each member of the team.

The Professor team (Associate, External and the Professor of the subject) provided support and

assessment to the team members (in total, approximately 30 hours of joint work). When half of

the work was already done, some concepts of innovation were included, as well as the necessity

of applying knowledge and scientific methodologies more specific to the study case. The result

was the TFG 214102 titled “Chlorine storage unit design and application of risk mitigation

measures” (Guinea et al., 2014) with 173 pages and a presentation of 52 slides.

The basic contents were: description of the process, process alternatives, equipment and control

system designs, safety and quantitative risk assessment of the process, environmental analysis,

equipment maintenance, operations manual, economic study and, finally, a comparative study of

the alternatives, taking into account the equilibrium between the population risk acceptance and

the economical aspects related to new investments in order to improve the installations.

-243-


2.1. Description of the TFG

During the development of the TFG and in the final presentation of the project, it was

confirmed the homogeneity of the three members of the team and the good level of the work

(the final evaluation of them was an outstanding grade).

Currently, the TFG of Chemical Engineering degree in ETSEQ is evaluated in different stages.

First, the Tutors and the Professor of the subject follow up the development of the TFG. In the

middle of the project, the students present an individual report about the accomplishment of the

programming envisaged and a declaration of the participation of all the members of the team,

when the TFG is not individual. The results obtained have no consequences in the final

evaluation, as the aim is to correct the situation in case of delay and/or if there is not

homogeneity in the participation and elaboration of the TFG by the team members.

The strict evaluation process starts when the TFG proposal is handed in. In this document, the

contributions of each member of the team and the group work are distinguished by a colour

code. This TFG proposal is evaluated, authorized, presented and individually defended in front

of a tribunal, which is made up of a maximum of three TFG Professors and the Tutor. Before

the presentation and the defence, each member of the tribunal provides his or her evaluation,

which will be the 50 % of the final mark. Another 10 % is provided by the ETSEQ Tutor. The

40 % remaining corresponds to the evaluation of the presentation (20 %) and the defence (20

%). In Table 1 and 2, it can be observed the competences evaluated in every stage.

-244-


Table 1. Competences evaluated in the TFG of GEQ of ETSEQ and its percent quantification

Type A Code Specific Competences

A1.1 Effectively apply knowledge of basic, scientific and technological subjects of engineering

A2.3

Ability to draft, sign and develop projects in the field of industrial engineering, speciality inIndustrial Chemistry, with the objective of construction, renovation, repair, maintenance,demolition, manufacture, installation, assembly or use of structures, mechanical equipment,energy facilities, electrical and electronic installations, installations and industrial plants andmanufacturing processes and automation

A2.4 Knowledge, understanding and ability to apply the necessary legislation on the exercise of theprofession of Industrial Technical Engineer, speciality in Industrial Chemistry.

A4.12 Knowledge and skills to organize and manage projects. Know the organizational structure andfunctions of a project office

A5.4 Ability to design, manage and operate procedures

A6.1

Original exercise that must be performed individually and present and defend in front of aUniversity tribunal, consisting of a project in the field of the specific technologies of industrialengineering of professional nature. In this project, the skills acquired in the education must besynthesized and integrated

-245-


Type B Code Transversal Competences

B1.1 Capacity to convey information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences

B1.2 Adapt to a changing environmentB1.3 Develop the job effectively and resist adversityB1.4 Resolve conflicts in a constructive manner

B2.1 Ability of organization and planning in the field of business and in other institutions andorganizations

B2.2 Capacity for the management of the activities related to engineering projects associated to theEngineer profession, speciality in Industrial Chemistry

B2.3 Influence and guide others to improve performanceB2.4 Promote an environment suitable for the development of individualsB2.5 Provide guidelines for the definition and achievement of objectivesB2.6 Motivate and convey enthusiasm to othersB3.1 Ability to work in a multilingual and multidisciplinary environment

B3.2 Contribute effectively to the achievement of the objectives of the team through thecooperation, participation and commitment to the vision and the goal that is shared

B3.3 Work as a team in a collaborative way and sharing responsibilityB4.1 Learn effective ways to assimilate knowledge and behaviorsB4.2 Show commitment to an attitude of lifelong learningB4.3 Learn autonomously and with initiative

B4.4 Knowledge in basic subjects and technology that enables them to learn new methods andtheories and the versatility to adapt to new situations

B5.1 Work autonomously with responsibility, initiative and innovative thinkingB5.2 Assume entrepreneurial positions

B5.3Ability to solve problems with initiative, decision making, creativity and critical reasoning andto communicate and convey knowledge, skills and abilities in the field of IndustrialEngineering, specialite in Industrial Chemistry

Type C Code Nuclear Competences

C1.2 Be advanced users of the information and communication technologiesC1.3 Be able to manage information and knowledge

C1.4 Be able to express themselves correctly both orally and in writing in one of the two officiallanguages of the URV

C2.1 Be committed to ethics and social responsibility as citizens and professionalsC2.2 Be able to define and develop their academic and professional project

Table 2. List and nomenclature of the competences evaluated in the TFG of GEQ in ETSEQ

After the good results obtained from the TFG, it was offered to the students, who in that

moment were already graduate and Engineers, the possibility to take advantage of the results

obtained and to try to publish them in a prestigious Scientific Forum. This fact took place when

the work “Chlorine storage design based on risk analysis: cost or safety?” was accepted in the 7th

European Meeting on Chemical Industry and Environment in 2015 (EMChIE).

-246-


2.2. Description of the scientific work presented and results

In Tarragona there is one of the biggest petrochemical complexes of Spain, in which chemical

and physical processes that involves big quantities of dangerous substances take place. This fact

requires focusing on safety because this complex is surrounded by crowded areas such as cities,

villages, historical monuments that take part of the Patrimony of Humanity and some

amusement parks. This is why it is necessary to install safety measures to make sure that the

consequences on the population are as maximum acceptable as possible, despite the risk that

implies this industrial complexes, essentially chemical and petrochemical (Gangopadhyay, Das &

Mukherjee, 2005).

Due to this situation and leveraging the realization of the TFG by a team of Chemical

Engineering degree students of ETSEQ, it was decided to carry out, at the same time, a study of

quantitative risk assessment of the basic design of the installation and the consequences of the

implementation of additional safety measures (Planas, Arnaldos, Darbra, Muñoz, Pastor &

Vilchez, 2014). In order to do so, a chlorine storage installation was selected, as chlorine is one of

the most dangerous substances in this petrochemical complex. So, through this academic project,

it was possible to extrapolate a general interest real case (Tseng Liu, Chang & Shu, 2008).

The project started with the design of the chlorine storage tank and the corresponding

quantitative risk assessment study. Chlorine is a highly toxic substance and it is considered

dangerous substance by Directive 2012/18/UE of the European Parliament and of the Council,

4th July 2012 (Bernechea & Arnaldos Viger, 2013). The breaking of a reactor, tank, pipeline or

pump of the installation would entail a loss containment, which consequences could be very

harmful, at first for the company workers and then for the area population, if preventive

measures have not been taken (Marco, Peña & Santamaria, 1998).

For this reason, the technical project consisted of a second part in which a meticulous study of

several preventive measures that could be installed in the equipment is done. These technological

measures are established to avoid the possible consequences of an accident. Keeping it in mind

that the risk always exists, even though it is small, the aim of the Engineer is to design the

installation in a way which comprises maximum safety to population (Soman & Sundararaj,

2015). In order to make the best comparison of these measures, three parameters have been

considered: the occurrence probability of a possible accident, the reach of the toxic dispersion as

a consequence and the economic investment (Vílchez, Espejo & Casal, 2011).

-247-


First, three different designs of the storage installation have been considered, changing the

number of tanks and their volume, for a certain quantity of chlorine. Once the installation is set,

a possible breaking of one of the thanks is studied, as well as the toxic dispersion produced.

Finally, the comparative study of different mitigation and preventive measures that can be

installed is done. Figure 1 shows the effect of the toxic cloud on population.

Figure 1. Representation of the distances of affectation of the possible accident according to the

designs used (none or bund and water curtains)

The measures proposed are the installation of a bund for liquid leaks (chlorine is stored under

pressure in the liquid phase); water curtains to sweep along the gas chlorine, and an absorption

column to recover the released gas and to confine it. All these measures are studied separately

and also combined with each other. The Figure 2 presents the Iso-risk curves obtained for each

case configuration. The higher frequency is 10-8 oc/year, which means that the risk is acceptable.

-248-


Figure 2. Example of risk curves of a Quantitative Risk Analysis. Each curve represents the

affectation areas where the risk is constant

It is calculated the effect of the accident and the consequences on population for each chlorine

storage design with the mitigation measures. The results lead to the conclusion which storage

design and which safety measures are the optimums. The acceptance criterion of the social risk is

presented in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Representation of social risk values. It relates the frequency of occurrence of a possible

crash with the mortality associated. If the curve is located below the straight line, the risk is

acceptable. Left: no mitigation measures, right: bund and water curtains

-249-


The design that has the smallest effect on population is the one that contains the largest number

of tanks, which have the smallest volume, and using all the mitigation and preventive measures.

The fact that it has more tanks implies an increase in the probability of occurrence of the

possible accident (1 possibility of breaking every 210.000 years). The simple fact of reducing the

volume of the tanks reduces the distance from 5.000 meters to 3.700 meters. In addition, the

utilization of all mitigation measures reduces this distance to 12 m. This means that the possible

accident would only affect the installation. Referring to economics, obviously this design is the

most expensive. The implementation of all mitigation measures increases the cost process in

25%, from 4.58 to 5.71 M€. This increment allows total reduction of the fatalities outside the

limits of the industry.

When deciding which the best design is, it is necessary to pay attention to both safety and

investment (Caputo, Pelagaggeb & Palumbo, 2011). In this point there is always controversy

because the best design implies two objectives that are incompatible: maximum safety and

minimum investment. It is clear that safety is very expensive and, on the other hand, it is

impossible to achieve total safety. The questions that remain are “who is the responsible of

taking the final decision, companies or politicians?” and, above all, “how far the limit is

acceptable?”

The dynamics, shown in Figure 4, involved the standard development of the TFG and the

introduction in it of new aspects of scientific innovation using the best available techniques,

which are analytics and numerical simulation, with the aim of obtaining results that reaffirm the

hypothesis effect carried out during all the process. Some of the most significant results depicted

in Figures 1, 2 and 3 were presented in the article published in EMChIE 2015 Conference

Proceedings (Guinea et al., 2015b).

-250-


Figure 4. Dynamics and results of the transition between a TFG and a research and scientific innovation work

3. Conclusions

The teamwork of the students, the tutoring and supervision of the Professor team (School

Tutor, External Tutor and the Professor of the subject) and the duality of objectives of the

project, promote very good results, such as a high level of satisfaction, an outstanding

qualifications and an initial immersion in scientific research, which also has a positive impact on

their curriculum. Results expected to be repeated in the future by applying this methodology to

the engineering TFG when possible, that is, to solve real problems related to engineering and, in

addition, to add to this potentiality the fact of being precursors of innovation and developers of

scientific knowledge and, if they want, to start a research career.

Ultimately, the new objectives for the Professor team of TFG of ETSEQ are that the students

can learn Engineering and, at the same time, offer new knowledge and applications to Science.

-251-


References

Bernechea, E.J., & Arnaldos Viger, J. (2013). Design optimization of hazardous substance storage

facilities to minimize project risk. Safety Science, 51, 49-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2012.06.007

Cabello, A., Montané, D., Castells, F., & Gavaldà, J. (2014, January). La integración de asignaturas al

Trabajo Final de Grado en Ingeniería Química: Un paso más allá en el modelo educativo de la ETSEQ .

Paper presented and published in the abstract book of II Congreso de Innovación Docente en

Ingeniería Química, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de la Universidad de Valencia,

Valencia.

Caputo, A.C., Pelagaggeb, P.M., & Palumbo, M. (2011). Economic optimization of industrial

safety measures using genetic algorithms. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 24,

541-551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2011.01.001

Gangopadhyay, R.K., Das, S.K., & Mukherjee, M. (2005). Chlorine leakage from bonnet of a

valve in a bullet-a case study. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 18, 526-530.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2005.07.008

García, R., Font, J., & Gavaldà, J. (2009). El Ingeniero Químico Global: Integración de

conocimientos científico-técnicos y habilidades personales. Modelo educativo en la Escuela

Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Química de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili. In Buenas prácticas en

docencia y política universitaria (Chapter 7, pp. 135-156). Cuenca: Editions UCLM. ISBN 978-84-

8427-645-6.

Guinea, A., Nuñez, C., & Callau, S. (2014). TFG 214102 titled Chlorine storage unit design and

application of risk mitigation measures of 173 pages. Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria Química

de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona.

Guinea, A., Nuñez, C., Callau, S., Miñana, M., Basco, J., Gavaldà, J., et al. (2015a, June). Chlorine

storage design based on risk analysis: Cost or safety?. Paper presented at 7th European Meeting on

Chemical Industry and Environment, Tarragona.

Guinea, A., Nuñez, C., Callau, S., Miñana, M., Basco, J., Gavaldà, J., et al. (2015b). Chlorine

storage design based on risk analysis: cost or safety?. EMChIE 2015 Conference Proceedings, ISBN

978-84-8424-367-0, 1, 257-258.

-252-



https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2012.06.007


Marco, E., Peña, J.A., & Santamaria, J. (1998). The chlorine release at Flix (Spain) on January 21st

1996: A case study. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 11, 153-160.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0950-4230(97)00014-4

Planas, E., Arnaldos, J., Darbra, R.M., Muñoz, M., Pastor, E., & Vilchez, J.A. (2014) Historical

evolution of process safety and major-accident hazards prevention in Spain. Contribution of

the pioneer Joaquim Casal. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 28, 109-117.


Regulation of Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria Química de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili

(2014-2016).

Regulation TFG 2015-2016 and Guide of TFG of Bachelor in Chemical Engineering, Academic

years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, Tarragona.

Soman, A.R., & Sundararaj, G. (2015). Accidental Release of Chlorine from a Storage Facility and

an On-Site Emergency Mock Drill: A Case Study. The Scientific World Journal (2015), Article ID

483216, 11 pages.

Tseng, J.M., Liu, M.Y., Chang, R.H. Su, & Shu, C.M. (2008). Emergency response plan of

chlorine gas for process plants in Taiwan. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 21,


Vílchez, J.A., Espejo, V., & Casal, J. (2011). Generic event trees and probabilities for the release of

different types of hazardous materials. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 24,


Published by OmniaScience (www.omniascience.com)

Journal of Technology and Science Education, 2017 (www.jotse.org)

Article's contents are provided on an Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 Creative commons license. Readers are

allowed to copy, distribute and communicate article's contents, provided the author's and JOTSE journal's names are

included. It must not be used for commercial purposes. To see the complete licence contents, please visit

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/es/

-253-

http://www.jotse.org/

http://www.omniascience.com/




https://doi.org/10.1016/S0950-4230(97)00014-4

journal of technology and science education · carrera) coexisted with the bachelor’s degree...

Documents